Wearables by Athletes at RIO 2016 Olympics

2 min read

Visa’s payment ring:

Criminality is a great fear at the Rio Olympics, to overcome this Visa is providing a wearable payments ring to the athletes it’s sponsoring at the games, permitting them to make cashless payments. Tap the ring on a compatible payment terminal and you’re done. Visa is also linking pre-paid cards to payment bands and smartwatches like the Swatch Bellamy.

Jump tracker:

Wearables offer analytic’s data to help athletes train. Many athletes are using Jump Tracker which clips onto clothing to track how high, how far and how often each player jumps. The data is sent to an app to help coaches safeguard athletes don’t exhaust themselves, which can lead to injury. It can also be used for basketball and other sports as well. You can buy your own for $125.

Smart cycling glasses:

You may see cyclists at Rio 2016 wearing Solos smart glasses, a kind of Google Glass for athletes. The glasses have a little heads-up display that displays metrics like heart rate, pace, distance, and cadence. The data appears in real-time so cyclists identify if they are moving at their projected pace. The glasses have in-built headphones and can run for around six hours before their next charge.

The Zika virus has got some people alarmed about the games, so Kinsa is donating its Smart Stick thermometer for use by U.S. athletes. Temperatures are logged in a mobile app, where other symptoms and health data can also be recorded. The app has a social networking feature so athletes can keep tabs on how their teammates in the Olympic Village are doing.